


Give Me Shelter

by MeteoraWrites



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Abusive Jeremiah Otto, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Hurt Troy, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 02:38:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13308663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeteoraWrites/pseuds/MeteoraWrites
Summary: Nick was indeed still awake. Awake, and on his porch hammering nails into the new railing he was almost finished building. He spotted the outline of Troy approaching to his left, and made no sign of stopping his work as he spoke. “Here to tell me I’m disturbing the peace?” He asked, tone tired.Troy came to a stand at the edge of the porch, just watching Nick work. He didn’t want to speak. Didn’t honestly know why he even came out here. He’d just found his feet carrying him here instead of up to his bedroom after his father was done hitting him.“You just going to stand there or…” Nick began as he turned to face Troy. He came to a sudden stop, eyes growing wide as he got a proper look at the other man. “What the hell happened?” He asked, taking in the sight of a beaten and bloodied Troy.“Bad timing.” Troy said lightly with a small shrug, not meeting Nick’s gaze as the younger man stepped forward and took Troy’s face in gentle hands to inspect the damage.





	Give Me Shelter

**Author's Note:**

> anonymous asked:
> 
> Hello :) I love your writing so much and I've read like everything you wrote about Trick (some stories even twice hehe) I was wondering if you could maybe write hurt/comfort? Maybe back on the ranch when old Otto was still alive and as an abusive father he is he might get really angry and beat up Troy while Jake wouldn't even flinch and Troy being both physically and mentally hurt would try to find a shelter and support at the only person he has left to trust - Nick Hope you have a great day! :)  
> ~  
> Awwww, sweetie! I love you and I love this idea. Hope you enjoy the story.

Troy slowly trudged his way down the dirt road to the far side of the ranch. It was late enough that most of the residents were asleep, but he knew the person he was heading towards wouldn’t be. He could see the glow of a lantern in the distance through his one good eye as he continued on.

Troy had known his father was drinking again. He’d known long before he’d stepped into the house that the man was probably drunk out of his mind, given the hour. And he knew the odds of him making it up to his room uninterrupted were slim. But it had been late and he was tired, so he tried going in anyway. The risk seemed worth it. Boy, was he wrong.

Now here he was, at least one bruised rib, his lip split, the right side of his face all swelled up again, and the mostly healed gash where Madison had stabbed him before was opened back up and bleeding freely down his face to leave red spatters down the front of his shirt and pants. Hell, some even got on his boot as he walked along. Dust sticking to the mess as he went.

Nick was indeed still awake. Awake, and on his porch hammering nails into the new railing he was almost finished building. He spotted the outline of Troy approaching to his left, and made no sign of stopping his work as he spoke. “Here to tell me I’m disturbing the peace?” He asked, tone tired.

Troy came to a stand at the edge of the porch, just watching Nick work. He didn’t want to speak. Didn’t honestly know why he even came out here. He’d just found his feet carrying him here instead of up to his bedroom after his father was done hitting him.

“You just going to stand there or…” Nick began as he turned to face Troy. He came to a sudden stop, eyes growing wide as he got a proper look at the other man. “What the hell happened?” He asked, taking in the sight of a beaten and bloodied Troy.

“Bad timing.” Troy said lightly with a small shrug, not meeting Nick’s gaze as the younger man stepped forward and took Troy’s face in gentle hands to inspect the damage.

“I’ll say. You look worse than when my mom tried to take your eye out with a spoon. What are you doing here? Why didn’t you go get this taken care of?” Nick asked, as he grabbed Troy by the arm and started to pull him into the half-built house to tend to his injuries.

“It’s not that bad.” Troy said dismissively, taking in the state of things. The fireplace was lit but dying, making the inside brighter than the porch had been for the time being. There was a table, a chair, a rather large bed, a dresser, and a lot of building supplies for the mostly finished roof and soon to be built shelves and counters.

“Bullshit. You can’t even open your eye.” Nick said as he sat Troy down on the edge of his bed and turned to find the first aid kit he’d brought out for himself with his other supplies.

Troy watched Nick rummage around a bit before coming back with the red plastic kit in hand.

“So,” Nick began as he started to clean the blood from Troy’s face carefully. “You wanna tell me what happened? Or am I going to have to guess?”

Troy let his gaze drop to the floor, not even reacting when the alcohol wipe stung at the gash on his cheek.

Heaving a sigh, Nick finished cleaning Troy’s face and reached for a few stri-stips to close up the gash under the other man’s eye. “Someone obviously did this to you. Was it Jake?” Nick guessed, studying Troy’s face closely.

Troy snorted at the accusation, because no, Jake had never hit him like this, but Jake had been in the house when his father had, and he didn’t try to stop it.

“Alright. Your dad then? It was Otto, wasn’t it?” Nick wagered, his answer coming in the form of a wince from the older man, even though he wasn’t being touched at that moment. “Jesus, Troy. What happened?”

“Like I said, bad timing.” Troy reiterated, watching Nick grab an instant cold pack from the kit and crack it over his knee before handing it to Troy for his eye.

Heaving anothing sigh, Nick decided to try a new tactic. “You know my mom hits me too, right? She hasn’t since we had to leave L.A. but I can tell she still wants to sometimes.” Nick said, pulling out a tube of anti-biotic ointment and putting a little on her finger before dabbing at the point where the spilt in Troy’s lip continued into the skin below it.

Troy blinked up at Nick, meeting his soft gaze with an almost sheepish look of his own. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Never this bad, but she’s split my lip a few times and given me plenty of bruises.” Nick said, eyes trained on his work now as he carefully taped a square of gauze over the still oozing gash on Troy’s face. “Last time it happened Licia found me hiding in the bathroom right after. If the military hadn’t showed up to take me away a few minutes later I would have had to tell her what happened. She still doesn’t know.”

“How?” Troy asked, honestly not getting how she couldn’t living under the same room as them.

“I always either ran away after or had just been released from police custody or rehab, so mom could lie and say I’d been hurt by another patient or running from the cops.” He explained, now cleaning up the supplies from patching Troy up. “All set, aside from your clothes. I’ve got some sweats if you want something to wear that isn’t covered in blood.”

Troy blinked down at himself, finally seeing the generous amount of blood on his clothes for the first time. No wonder he felt a little light headed. “I’ll change at the barracks. Should be some clothes kicking around there.” He said, moving to stand. “It’s late, I should go…”

“Wait.” Nick said, putting a hand on Troy’s shoulder to stop him from walking out. “You’re not walking all the way back over to the barracks like that. Stay here. Beds big enough for two.” Nick said, patting Troy on the shoulder before turning to retrieve some sleep clothes from the dresser for the both of them.

“Why are you being so nice to me…” Troy mumbled, taking the pair of sweatpants and t-shirt Nick offered.

“Why’d you come to me instead of going to the medic?” Nick countered, tossing his dirty work t-shirt and moving to pull on a grey tank top.

Troy paused, fingers clutching the bundle of clothes in his hands as he watched Nick get changed. “Didn’t really think about it. Just walked out the door when Big Otto was done hitting me and here I am.” He said, finally turning away from Nick and starting to get changed himself.

“Why not go to Jake?” Nick asked, done changing and sitting on the edge of his bed now as Troy worked on tying the drawstring of the sweatpants Nick had given him.

“Jake was there.” Troy said, now all too focused on getting the string even before he tied it.

“What do you mean he was there?” Nick asked, grabbing Troy’s fidgeting hands and stopping them before taking the string doing a bunny eared slip knot.

“I mean, he was standing in the doorway watching me get my ass beat and he didn’t do a god damned thing.” Troy clarified, tone sharp as he pointedly didn’t look at Nick now.

“Seriously? What the hell! He’s your big brother, he’s supposed to look out for you!” Nick said, anger seeping into his normally relaxed tone. “You aren’t on militia duty tomorrow, right?” He asked suddenly.

Troy blinked at Nick, picking his discarded cold pack up and holding it to his swollen eye again. “No. It’s my one day off. Why?”

“Good, we’re both staying here. You can help me build a new kitchen counter.” Nick said resolutely before scooching back onto the bed so he was sitting on the side that was along the wall. “Now come on, it’s late and we both need our beauty sleep.” He said, patting the empty space beside him before pulling the massive quilted blanket that covered the whole bed back for the both of them to climb under.

Troy slowly climbed into bed beside Nick, keeping a respectful distance between the two of them as he got settled. “Someone might come looking for me.” Troy said slowly, watching the flicker of the dying fire cast dancing shadows across the room.

“They do and I’ll tell them to fuck off.” Nick said with a tired sigh. “Listen. You need to run away for a while. And since I know you would die before abandoning this place, you can stay here with me and I’ll run interference.  Sound good?”

Taking a moment to consider it, Troy cracked a small smile. “Sounds perfect.” He agreed.

“Good. Now get some sleep. You look exhausted.” Nick said, tone going a bit fond as he looked over at Troy.

huffing a laugh Troy closed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. G'night, Nicky.”

“Night, Troy.” Nick parroted, a yawn escaped his lips after.

The two of them slept better that night than they had since the apocalypse started. And the next day no one came looking for Troy as they worked on the house together. It was easy for Nick to make up an excuse for Troy to stay again that night, and the next, and the next. Until it was their house and not just Nicks

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to [Check out my Tumblr](https://meteora-writes.tumblr.com) for story update schedules and other info <3


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